Ruminations atop the impeachment toboggan hill

Trump's place in presidential history

After
a bit more polling and watching CNN and letting the man in the White House just
keep going, Republicans in Congress likely will take the easy way out and
appoint a special prosecutor to do the dirty work. And so Donald Trump stands
ready to rival Zachary Taylor when it comes to short-lived presidencies.

After
barely a year as president, Taylor did himself in by eating too many cherries
with iced milk on the Fourth of July in 1850. He could, perhaps, have been
saved by a modern-day colon blow, which is, precisely, what promises to
guarantee Trump’s demise.

"I
did not expect to encounter what has beset me since my elevation to the
presidency,” the stricken president said on his antebellum death bed. And now
we have Sean Spicer: “There’s nothing that would conclude me that anything
different has changed with respect to that time period.”

Spicer
is right, actually. The only thing that has changed since Trump’s ascension to
the White House is a collective national awakening. There always has been a
silent majority in this country, a great middle that mutters “meh” when
presented with the purported best that each party can offer every four years. All
along, we knew that Trump lied and played footsies with Russia and hid tax
returns and degraded women and did sundry other stuff that should have disqualified
him from being assistant deputy whip to deputy assistant to the county dog
catcher. That was fine, given he didn’t have a chance. Now, that he has a
chance, we are reminded, as we have not been reminded in generations, that who goes
to work in the Oval Office each day, when they’re not in Florida, really does
matter.

Trump
is Roosevelt/Lincoln/Washington in reverse, the sort who would sell rubble from
the carving of Mount Rushmore at casino gift shops, if his casinos hadn’t gone broke
and ended up in the hands of those who know how to profit from drunken gamblers.
To watch Republicans delay using the hook they hold is both predictable and
scary, and they risk having the moniker GOP become synonymous with WTF if they
don’t do the inevitable, sooner rather than later, and appoint a special
prosecutor to muck out this Aegean stable. More than indigestion is at stake
with a man who would muse responses to North Korean missile tests between
cheese and dessert, or perhaps caviar, courses.

An
investigation by an independent prosecutor with full subpoena power is the only
logical response to Trump’s pre-inaugural dalliances with a foreign power, as
well as the president’s refusal to disclose tax returns, and Republicans who
say that congressional committees controlled by Republicans can handle this are
testing thin ice. The best role for these committees is to receive and consider
the findings of an independent investigator while politicians retreat and let
truth take its course.

In
less than a week, Trump will lose his chance to best William Harrison as the president
with the shortest tenure in the White House. There is nothing particularly
memorable or quotable from Harrison’s inaugural address, which was heavy on
references to the Roman empire and lasted nearly two hours – one can scarce
imagine the applause when he finally finished -- but the ninth president did exhibit
remarkable optimism about his prospects while talking about the Constitution:
“I give my aid to it by renewing the pledge heretofore given that under no
circumstances will I consent to serve a second term.” One month later, he was
dead from pneumonia.

After
a week in office, Harrison remarked on the challenge presented by a steady stream
of glad-handers seeking jobs. “I am so much harassed by the multitude that call
upon me that I can give no proper attention to any business of my own,” an
overwhelmed president said. Eight score and 16 years later, we have a president
who seems to have spent entirely too much time giving improper attention to
business of his own. And the longer we wait to get to the bottom of it, the
greater the risk we run.